Nine Winning Habits of Successful Authors: Tips, Tales And Inspiration From 44 Popular Novelists

by Rachel McAlpine

In this book, 44 popular novelists kindly spill the beans to Rachel McAlpine. Editors, literary agents and publishers also have their say.

Paperback

Published January 1, 2000

About the author

McAlpine and her five sisters grew up in small-town vicarages in Canterbury, New Zealand. When she was 10 the family moved to Christchurch, where she attended Christchurch Girls High School and Canterbury University, graduating BA and Senior Scholar. She was married twice: to civil engineer Grant McAlpine (1969-1981) and to artist Michael Smither (1988-1992).

After four years in Geneva she moved to Masterton, New Zealand. There she raised four children, taught high school, wrote her first poetry book, and gained a Dip. Ed (Massey University) and B.A. Hons (Victoria University of Wellington).

McAlpine says that her career swerved abruptly in May 1995, when she first saw a web site. As a writer, she immediately realized that traditional writing styles would need to change for this new medium. She began teaching short courses on writing and managing web content in 1996, writing her first book on the topic, Web Word Wizardry, in 1999.

As Curriculum Director of Contented Enterprises, McAlpine created online writing courses. Contented teaches writing skills needed for blogs, social media, intranets, web sites, email, e-learning, and all documents that are managed electronically. Contented courses go beyond the traditional print-based curriculum for business writing: they show how to make content accessible and searchable. McAlpine's courses and conference speeches are original and playful (as befits a poet), while delivering solid information.

Besides her professional work, McAlpine writes two personal blogs. She lives in Wellington, dances with the Crows Feet Dance Collective, walks a lot and does Tai Chi. She also lobbies for plain language communication from government agencies.
~ Wikipedia

Reviews

[PRJ Greenwell]

In between all of the biographical anecdotes the guest authors have provided, you get one salient idea: that persistence pays off for authors, which alas, is a truism practically any budding author knows and understands. There's scant other advice here - instead what you get are slices of life from authors of varying success levels, their marriage travails, their childhood dramas, how they travelled the world, etc. Well, as my mother used to say - bully for you.

Give this one a miss - you'll find better, more practical advice on the business of writing elsewhere.

[Edit Burla]

More than anything else, this is a collection of authors' biographies, with very little by way of useful information about the act of writing. The authors in this book are motivated first of all by money and fame. They merely attempt to entertain the masses and put quantity ahead of quality. Their books may sell, but I won't be buying them. I suppose that makes me a literary snob - ah well, I'll find my literature elsewhere, and better books about the craft of writing as well.